Google Reaches Preliminary Settlement In High-Stakes Privacy Suit

Alphabet Inc.’s Google subsidiary has tentatively settled accusations of misappropriating user data, averting a potentially revealing court trial. The lawsuit originally sought $5 billion in damages, but terms of the settlement terms were not disclosed. The news was first reported by Reuters.

According to court documents, the search giant agreed to resolve claims that despite promises of privacy, it tracked the internet activity of users browsing in what they believed was an undercover mode. Consumers contended that they were shadowed by Google even while using the supposedly concealed ‘Incognito’ mode on Chrome, raising alarms over the sanctity of online privacy. The company tried to get the court to throw out the case multiple times, but failed.

The agreement, announced before a pending trial date on February 5, 2024, halts the progression of a class-action suit that sought damage payments of at least $5 billion. Terms of the settlement, brokered through a private mediation process, are not yet public, but will be revealed upon submission for court approval by the end of February 2024.

While the plaintiffs’ attorneys and Google refrained from commenting on the settlement, the crux of the legal challenge put Google’s transparency under scrutiny.

The case hinged on the assumption that Google’s analytics and ad-targeting mechanisms continued to siphon personal data regardless of user privacy settings, converting virtually anonymous browsers into valuable data points.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling in August 2023 against Google’s bid to dismiss the case underscored the perplexity of consent and disclosure in digital privacy. Rogers highlighted potentially misleading assurances given by Google to its users regarding data collection in privacy mode.

The lawsuit, initially filed in 2020, represented users nationwide since June 2016 and called for punitive damages based on alleged infringements of federal wiretapping and California privacy laws.

With digital privacy issues at the forefront of consumer protection debates, the Brown et al v Google LLC et al case captures the growing discord between user expectations and the realities of online data management by industry leaders.

The case number for the suit is 20-03664 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.